Promoters don't make good parties, ravers and djs do. A promoter's job is to convince people that his party's gonna be great. Once people are convinced, they actually do the job themselves. Okay, maybe the drugs are in part responsible too. They're 3 different aspects to a party; the music, the vibe and the personnal trip.

The music is the dj's domain. The promoter's job on this aspect is to book the right djs. It's simple enough, if music is good, people are gonna dance and have fun. Some people don't really care about it. Sure, they like to dance, but they're not heavily into rave music, and might not notice a trainwreck. They might like a bit of everything, and will just dance to any beat. That's not a bad thing, it's these people's way of having fun.

On the other hand, some people rave only for the music. They'll take the time to listen to every dj, and will have an opinion on everything. Again, it's cool, as long as they don't diss djs they don't like that is. Music is the core of the party, it's what the people come for initially, even if it's a social event as well.

Then, there's the vibe. The vibe is directly linked to the people. This is my favorite part, cause promoters and djs only have a very small influence on this. Ravers are the ones creating the vibe. Sometimes, it's created by hype about a certain event. Everyone is convinced that a party's gonna be huge, so they make it huge. It can also just happen. A few people are really into it, others follow in, and you get a great vibe. The vibe can be different for everyone. While a couple might be having the best time of their life because they bumped into old friends at the party, another guy might have the worst night ever, cause he just broke with his girlfriend.

A party is a gathering, and other people have a huge influence on it. Again, some people might not care too much, and only be there for the music. Other ravers go out almost specifically for the social aspect. Again, there's no good or bad way to approach this. People just have fun in their own way.

The third aspect is the only part of raving no one has control over except each and every individual person there. Everyone has a personnal trip. Many ravers, especially those who have been in the scene for a while, don't live any deep or trippy experiences. I'm talking about those moments where nothing exists, where you're only losing yourself in the dance, the music, the visuals...

This may seem related to drugs. It can be, but not always. Many ravers will party sober, and still see the rave environment as a way to disconnect with real life. There's no shame in doing that. Some jaded ravers might diss people who try to "lose it". That's fuckin lame. Raves are one of the rare places where we can just forget about everything else. It's what makes them special.

So, in the end, a good party is one that mixes these three things. For some people, it might be only one, or two. Still, these are the three aspects of raving. Experiencing all of them at one party, and in a positive way, can make the party one of your best. The music part is entirely out of your control. The vibe part is only partially in your control, and the introversion part is 100% yours to command.

So, yeah, go to parties where you'll like the music, don't get into drama and take the time to have fun :)